Tuesday reader's view: A better idea

Published 8:45 am, Tuesday, October 22, 2013

To the editor:

A modest proposal ...

Since the current federal government has, on a fairly routine basis, decided to “go out of business”...

The sovereign state of Michigan should develop a contingency plan to deal with any future disappearance of a functioning federal government. Really, such a plan is little more than what any employee of a bankrupt, or potentially bankrupt, firm would have on hand in order to protect themselves.

“Be Prepared” is more than a Boy Scout motto.

I would suggest the following ...

1) When the current so-called federal government declares its inability to perform its own legally defined functions — by “closing,” “shutting down,” “going on hold” — that government ceases to exist, by its own admission, until it follows its own laws.

2) Michigan, as a sovereign state, should direct all currently authorized federal tax dollars to the Michigan state tax system — and hold harmless the citizens of the sovereign state of Michigan against any legal actions performed by a defunct current federal government.

3) Michigan, as a sovereign state, should recall any Michigan State National Guard troups. The sovereign State of Michigan has legal control over the state National Guard, and its resources. Let’s bring them home, let them do the job of protecting and defending Michigan, and let the defunct federal government fund their current Army, Navy, Air Force, NSA, etc. as they may, or may not.

That’s it ... just don’t pay for something you aren’t getting (a functioning federal government). No big deal — at some time in the future, Michigan could choose to align itself with some other entity that appears to be a larger, functioning group of sovereign states — or Canada, if they’ll have us.

Unpatriotic? No ... this is called “having a plan.” Patriotism is not equal to the inability to function. Please direct all complaints to the “here is my better idea” column. You may have one, and everyone would love to hear it — including me. All I know is this: we can no longer afford to have our lives shut down with the threat of food shortages, the inability to travel, our troops without pay, and our older people without SS checks. We either have a real federal government, or we don’t. If we don’t? Let’s work on that.